The present invention generally relates to tape cassettes having a lock mechanism for locking a tape protecting lid, and more particularly to a tape cassette having a lock mechanism for locking a tape protecting lid which is located at the front of a cassette case and is free to open and close, in its closed position when the tape cassette is not in use.
Generally, a tape cassette which is used with a video tape recorder, comprises a cassette case for accommodating a tape, and a tape protecting lid. The tape protecting lid is designed to close when the tape cassette is not in use, so as to cover and protect the tape which is exposed along the front of the cassette case. The tape protecting lid opens when the tape cassette is in use, so as not to interfere with a tape draw-out operation in which the tape is drawn out from the cassette case to be loaded into a predetermined tape path in the video tape recorder. Further, the tape cassette also comprises a lock mechanism provided with respect to the tape protecting lid. This lock mechanism locks the tape protecting lid in its closed position when the tape cassette is not in use. The locking of the tape protecting lid by the above lock mechanism is released when the tape cassette is loaded into the video tape recorder.
Conventionally, the lock mechanism was made up from a locking member, and a spring member which was independent of the locking member. Thus, because two independent parts constituted the lock mechanism, there was a problem in that the number of parts required to make the tape cassette could not be reduced, and that the number of assembling processes consequently could not be reduced. In addition, the lock mechanism was generally mounted on the cassette case in a rotatable manner. Thus, when connecting upper and lower halves which make up the cassette case, an instrument and the like had to be used to restrict the position of the lock mechanism during an assembling process in which the upper and lower halves were connected together. Therefore, there was a problem in that the production efficiency was low because of the additional step which was required to restrict the position of the lock mechanism during the assembling process in which the upper and lower halves were connected together.
Generally, after the upper half is placed on top of the lower half and connected, the upper and lower halves are secured to each other by screws. However, conventionally, there was no means for temporarily holding the upper and lower halves in place in a state where the upper half rests on top of the lower half. Thus, the upper half simply rested on top of the lower half without being held in place by some means, the upper and lower halves sometimes shifted or separated from one another before the upper and lower halves were secured together by the screws. In such cases, the upper half had to be correctly re-positioned on top of the lower half so that the process of securing the upper and lower halves together by the screws could be carried out. As a result, the upper and lower halves had to be handled with extreme care when securing the upper and lower halves together by the screws, because the upper and lower halves may shift or separate from one another. Therefore, there was a disadvantage in that the process of assembling the tape cassette could not be carried out with satisfactory efficiency.